Container lid fastener



July 1966 A. J. PIETRZAK ET AL 3,259,300

CONTAINER LID FASTENER Filed May 4, 1964 United States Patent 3,259,300 CONTAHQER LID FASTENER Aloysius J. Pietrzak, Jenirintown, Pa., and Julian C. Webster, Deianco, N.J., assignors to Rohrn & Haas Company, E'hiladelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 4, 1964, Ser. No. 364,708 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-45) The present invention has reference to a container and a lid therefor which may be readily secured to one an other, but which may with equal facility be disengaged and separated. It has particular relation to containers made of fiber or paper board and provided with a re closable cover.

There are many uses for cardboard type containers which do not require liquid or air-tight seals when the lid or cover is put in place thereon. This applies even to large containers, boxes and drums in which the weights and volumes of materials carried therein are sufiicient to require motorized fork-lifts or other power-operated materials-moving equipment to handle them. In many such instances large sizes of materials such as hardware, or relatively minutely sized products such as powdered chemicals, may be held in such containers. The smaller mate rials, such as powdered chemicals, can conveniently be contained in a sack, a cloth or a plastic bag, which in turn may be sealed tight, and in this manner placed inside the container. As a result, the outer container does not have to be made air-tight, but what is needed is an inexpensive, simple means for fastening the lid to the container, and capable of being fastened, released and fastened over and over again.

Even though no seals have been required in such containers, it has been the custom to use a container construction and closure means such as are illustrated in US. Patent No. 2,661,139. In essence, that construction involves a carton with a necked-in portion near its open top, and a cover adapted to have telescoping engagement with the neck. Gummed tape is then employed around the entire circumference of the container and closure to fasten and seal them together. Although such a construction is admirably suited for many purposes, it is an unnecessary expense for many others. Besides, the use of the gummed tape presents problems due to dust accumulating on the adhesive surface, failure of the tape to stick to the container and/ or cover therefor, and other time-consuming factors. When the tape is functioning properly so that it adheres well, too often it becomes a nuisance to remove the tape, and if the container is reused a number of times the repeated application and removal of the tape defaces the cardboard or fiber surfaces of the container and its lid so as to make both rather unsightly, to say the least.

All of these and other such problems have been eliminated by our invention which makes possible quick, easy and inexpensive fastening and re-fastening of the lids to the containers. We accomplish this by attaching a tab to the side of the container, near its open mouth, and of sufiicient length to extend below the terminus of the open or flanged end of the container lid. When the lid is placed on the container it also covers a portion of the tab. By the simple expedient of fastening together the lid and the tab, as by stapling or otherwise securing the two members to each other, the lid can be held firmly in place and yet can be disengaged and removed quite readily by simply removing the staple or other fastening means.

For further comprehension of our invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be made to the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a container, with its lid in place, and showing projecting therefrom one form of the tab which represents the novel improvement of our invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 to show in cross-section the relative relationship of the tab to the container and lid, and the manner in which the tab is secured first to the container and then to the lid; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 which shows another form of the tab, this one modified to have cut-out portions that make the tab also useful as a sort of handle with which to help support and carry the container-lid assembly.

The container proper is designated generally by the reference character 10. Container 10 has a body 12 and a closure or lid 14. Body 12 is a hollow cylinder (although it could be rectangular, triangular, or almost any other shape) which has an upper open end 16 and a closed lower end 18.

A tab 20, which may be of the illustrated elongated rectangular construction, although other shapes and sizes are useful, is secured to the outside wall of the containers upper end 16. Preferably, in order to prevent accidental removal of the lid from the container, there should be at least two such tabs (as shown in FIG. 3) spaced some distance from one another. In the case of a fiber or card board container, a simple attachment as by a staple 22 will serve this purpose. Optionally, other forms of attachment, such as an adhesive, may be used. If the container is made out of metal, a metal tab could be used and the two could be welded or riveted together.

The lid or closure 14 is of the same general shape as body 10, but is shorter so as to resemble a cup, and is adapted slidably and removably to fit over the open end 18 of the body 12 and onto the body proper. The lid 14 may be functionally held to tab 20, but Whether it is or not the two are secured to each other by stapling them as at 25. This may be done quite easily and quickly by slipping the anvil of a stapling machine (not shown) between the tab and the container body, and applying the pressure normally required to operate such machines so as to eject a staple and have it fasten the lid and tab together as shown at 25.

To remove the lid is just as simple. Staple 25 is removed from each tab and the lid then is lifted off the container with a minimum of effort, and with no defacing of either the container body or lid, or of the tab for that matter. The process of closing and fastening the lid, and thereafter removing it, as described, may be done over and over again with the same relatively effortless procedure, and without any damage done to the container.

The tab 20 can be made to serve a dual purpose, if desired. For example, it may be used to bear certain indicia as of a product lot number or quality control designation. As an inventory control means, the item carried in the container could be coded on the tab, which could have pro-fabricated perforations 21 so as to be readily separable into two parts, 2223, as shown in FIG. 1. When a sale or delivery is made, the lower portion 23 of the tab can be removed and saved as an inventory record of the item thus removed from stock on hand.

Another alternate secondary purpose is to provide a slot-like opening or fingersgrip 24 (see FIG. 3). By having tabs with such slots on opposite sides of the container, as shown in FIG. 3, a convenient pair of handles for lifting and carrying the container is thus provided.

Other optional modes of using the tab for such secondary purposes will readily suggest themselves to those employing the invention.

Having thus described the novel container lid fastener, what we claim as our invention is as follows:

1. A container consisting of a hollow body portion having an open mouth at one end and a cup-shaped portion adapted to fit over the containers mouth end, and spaced some distance from each other at least tWo tabs each having at least two extremities with a first of said tab extremities being secured to the exterior of the container, partly adjacent that bodys mouth end and, after the lid is in closed position on the container, the second of said tab extremities, which otherwise extends laterally from and free of said container, is secured to an extremity of the lid near the lids open end, the attachment of the tabs to the container and to the lid being made as desired by suitable removable fastening means.

2. A container, a substantially cup-shaped closure therefor, and at least two elongated tabs for functionally engaging the closure to help hold it in place and to provide a means for fastening the closure to the container, the tabs being fastened at one end to the container body and the other tab end being free from attachment to said body but further being fastenable to the closure so as to re- References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,666,913 4/1928 Rappaport 22944 FOREIGN PATENTS 412,548 6/1934 Great Britain.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner. FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER CONSISTING OF A HOLLOW BODY PORTION HAVING AN OPEN MOUTH AT ONE END AND A CUP-SHAPED PORTION ADAPTED TO FIT OVER THE CONTAINER''S MOUTH END, AND SPACED SOME DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER AT LEAST TWO TABS EACH HAVING AT LEAST TWO EXTREMITIES WITH A FIRST OF SAID TAB EXTREMITIES BEING SECURED TO THE EXTERIOR OF THE CONTAINER, PARTLY ADJACENT THAT BODY''S MOUTH END AND, AFTER THE LID IS IN CLOSED POSITION ON THE CONTAINER, THE SECOND OF SAID TAB EXTREMITIES, WHICH OTHERWISE EXTENDS LATERALLY FROM AND FREE OF SAID CONTAINER, IS SECURED TO AN EXTREMITY OF AND LID NEAR THE LID''S OPEN END, THE ATTACHMENT OF THE TABS TO THE CONTAINER AND TO THE LID BEING MADE AS DESIRED BY SUITABLE REMOVABLE FASTENING MEANS. 